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Sentinel
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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 51
Dev wants apts started in spring The developer for Haisla HL Development’s site at Kitimat’s former hospital land wants to see the apartment units under construction by spring and encouraged the Kitimat Council to put gas in the bylaw process. That said, it was noted that the first apartment building out of the three proposed for that site won’t be made available for market housing. Leonard Kerkhoff of Kerkhoff Construction said that details on the lease arrangements for the building are confidential at the moment but information will come out in time, likely in January. Leonard Kerkhoff of Kerkhoff Construction walked through some of the updated plans for the site, which in addition to the three apartment buildings will also call for office space, a restaurant location and a hotel. Those commercial spaces will likely wait though as the developer is eyeing the residential aspect of the property sooner. In fact the hotel development
in particular — and the restaurant, he said, is closely tied to the hotel development — may wait on news from the LNG industry. The apartment buildings will each have 49 units, each with twolevel underground parking. It will be a mix of one and two bedroom units, from 622 square feet to 1,410 sq.ft. Kerkhoff said that he hoped the public hearing process and adoption of a comprehensive development plan for the Haisla Town Centre could be concluded by January 19. He said the company also planned their own open house for tonight as well, which is in addition to any future public hearings regarding the bylaw proposed bylaw. Director of Planning and Community Development Gwen Sewell pointed out a requested change from the developer regarding parking, saying the standard of two parking stalls per living unit is asked to be waived so it would be instead one parking stall per bedroom. Continued on page 2
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Braydon O’Brien, red, has a stare as intense as his punch in an exhibition round against Arius Woytowich in a Kitimat boxing tournament. More on page 12.
Black looks to government for assurances Cameron Orr With a design and feasibility study in tow, David Black now needs to secure government support to make further in-roads in his plan to build an oil refinery in the Kitimat area. Black announced December 4 that Hatch Ltd. had completed the study for him, which sets out how the proposed refinery would process 550,000 barrels of diluted bitumen a day in to 460,000 barrels a day of refined fuel — gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. In a press release, Black said that lenders are willing to put up money for the refinery but are insisting on “skin-in-thegame” from the government. Black has been seeking debt guarantees from the federal government, and said he is offering compensation to the federal and provincial governments to obtain them. Black told the Sentinel he was not
ready to go in to further detail at the moment on what “compensation” looks like in this context, although he did say “it’s substantial.” That said, he says he does have conditional support for debt guarantees from the federal Minister of Finance Joe Oliver. Reached for comment to confirm, the Department of Finance says they do not comment or speculate on possible actions. Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen, who is also the finance critic, said he’s spoken to people on the issue and said that the reception he’s seen has been lukewarm. “The loan guarantees did not seem to be something they were enthusiastic about,” he said. Cullen said Black has struggled in getting Canadian backers, from the supply side to the financial side, and it would never get built if he can’t get producers on board.
That said, the question of value-added remains important and the public could be more inclined to pipelines if benefit came back to the people. Black admits that finances are where he has to put his efforts at the moment. “I really think I have to tie down more money here,” he said. “I’ve got to focus on who’s going to provide the money.” He said with this study now done, he really needs the government “to tell me whether they’re coming to the party or not.” With an estimated 3,000 person workforce for the refinery, Black said Hatch’s report puts directly-employed jobs at up to 1,500, while another 1,500 would work at the refinery on a contract basis. He cites potential for up to 3,000 other jobs with possible petrochemical plants that could open up in conjunction with the refinery. He points out that large volumes of sulphur extracted during the refining
process could be used to supply a fertilizer plant, for instance. He said he didn’t know exactly what the particular emissions estimates would be but that carbon dioxide emissions would be about one-third of a normal heavy oil refinery, and would be about 10 million tonnes per year. Black said it has been awhile since he has spoken with the Haisla or Kitselas about the project, who he specifically names as governments he’ll have to work out economic benefit deals with, but he said he felt positive based on early conversations with them. Absent from his December 4 release was talk about how he’d get product to his refinery and he said he hasn’t focused on that question recently, but is still hoping for a pipeline, but has not ruled out rail. “CN wants to do it, that’s for sure,” he said. Black is the Chairman of Black Press.
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A Kitimat play-bescite ... page 8